This invention relates to a hardening equipment capable of hardening on a workpiece machined with a machine tool, such as a lathe and a machining center, in said machine tool, and relates to a hardening control method to be applied in the hardening.
A conventional measure in hardening on a workpiece machined in a machine tool is to provide a hardening unit in a machine tool.
But, it is necessary to provide a hardening unit for each machine tool in such a method, and the scale of the whole equipment inconveniently becomes large. And, the hardening unit is out of operation during machining on a workpiece with each machine tool. Then, a problem in low rate of operation of the equipment exists since the time necessary for hardening is usually widely short in comparison with the time necessary for machining on a workpiece for each machine tool.
The object of the present invention is to provide a hardening equipment without providing a hardening unit every machine tool, having high operation rate, and a hardening control method, taking the above-mentioned circumstances into consideration.
The invention of claim 1 is hardening equipment having a plurality of machine tools located therein, for performing hardening operation on a workpiece in a plurality of said machine tools by laser beam, comprising:
said hardening equipment having a guide means for communicating between said machine tools;
an ejecting portion holding means having a laser beam ejecting portion being free to eject laser beam from its top end provided being free to move along said guide means among a plurality of said machine tools;
laser beam supply means for supplying laser beam, provided being connected with said laser beam ejecting portion;
ejecting portion holding means operation control means for performing hardening operation with laser beam ejected from said laser beam ejecting portion, controlling operations of said ejecting portion holding means; and
communication control means for exchanging information necessary for hardening operation on said workpiece to be machined with said each machine tool with a control means of said each machine tool (such as a numerically controlled machine (not shown) installed on each machine tool), provided at said ejecting portion holding means operation control means.
According to the invention of claim 1, it is not necessary to provide a hardening unit for exclusive use for each machine tool and a hardening equipment having high rate of operation can be provided since the ejection portion holding means is moved among the machine tools along the guide means so as to harden a workpiece in each machine tool.
Besides, each machine tool can be controlled from the ejecting portion holding means operation control means side by the communication control means, and at the same time, various data concerning hardening on a workpiece can be supplied, it is not necessary to separately input the data (such as DATA) of the same workpiece into the machine tool or the ejection portion holding means operation control means, and efficient hardening operation is possible.
The invention of 2 is the hardening equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein a workpiece data input means for inputting data concerning a shape of a workpiece is provided, a machining program composing means (such as a numerically controlled machine of each machine tool) for composing a machining program of said workpiece to be machined in said each machine tool from said data concerning shape of said workpiece input from said workpiece data input means is provided, a hardening program composing means for composing a hardening program from said data concerning shape of said workpiece input from said workpiece data input means is provided, and said ejecting portion holding means operation control means performs hardening operation on said workpiece machined with each machine tool on the basis of said machining program composed by said machining program composing means on the basis of said hardening program composed by said hardening program composing means.
According to the invention of claim 2, the machining program to be composed by the machining program composing means and the hardening program to be composed by the hardening program composing means can be composed from the data concerning the shape of the same workpiece input from the workpiece data input means, and the input operation of the data concerning the shape of the workpiece can be simplified.
The invention of claim 3 is the hardening equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said ejecting portion holding means operation control means has a machine tool control means for outputting an operation command (a cover opening command, a C-axis command, for instance) to said control means of said machine tool to said machine tool when hardening operation is performed on said workpiece machined with said machine tool.
According to the invention of claim 3, it is not necessary to compose a special program for hardening operation on the machine tool side, and the hardening operation can be all controlled from the hardening machine side so as to make the control of the hardening equipment simple since the operation commands (a cover opening command, a C-axis command or the like, for instance) to the control means of the machine tool can be output from the hardening machine side.
The invention of claim 4 is the hardening equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein hardening operation by said ejecting portion holding means operation control means is performed on the basis of a hardening command from said control means of said machine tool.
According to the invention of claim 4, a hardening command can be output when the machining before hardening operation finishes on the machine tool side and preparations for hardening on a workpiece are made, the ejection portion holding means operation control means (a cover opening command, a C-axis command or the like, for instance) is prevented from inadvertently being driven during machining in the machine tool, and the control having high credibility is possible.
The invention of claim 5 is the hardening equipment as set forth in claim 3, wherein said operation command to said control means of said machine tool has an axis movement command (a C-axis command, for instance) to said machine tool.
According to the invention of claim 5, the control of the control axis of each machine tool is possible from the hardening machine side, it is necessary to compose no specific control axis command on the machine tool side at the time of hardening, and hardening operation can be smoothly performed.
The invention of 6 is the hardening equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein a workpiece data input means for inputting data concerning a shape of a workpiece is provided, a machining program composing means (a numerically controlled machine of each machine tool or the like) for composing a machining program of said workpiece to be machined in said each machine tool from said data concerning shape of said workpiece input from said workpiece data input means is provided, a hardening program composing means for composing a hardening program from said data concerning said machining program composed by said machining program composing means is provided, and said ejecting portion holding means operation control means performs hardening operation on said workpiece machined with each machine tool on the basis of said machining program composed by said machining program composing means on the basis of said hardening program composed by said hardening program composing means.
According to the invention of claim 6, the hardening program can be composed on the basis of the machining program, the hardening program can be composed, diverting the machining program to be used for each machine tool, it is not necessary to input the data concerning the shape of a workpiece on both the machine tool side and the hardening machine side, and efficient operation is possible.
The invention of claim 7 is method of hardening in a hardening equipment having a plurality of machine tools located therein, for performing hardening operation on a workpiece in a plurality of said machine tools by laser beam, said method comprising:
providing a laser beam ejecting portion being free to eject laser beam from its top end, being free to move among a plurality of said machine tools;
selectively positioning said laser beam ejecting portion with respect to said machine tool when hardening is performed on said workpiece to be machined in a plurality of said machine tools; and
performing a predetermined hardening operation on said workpiece in said machine tool in the above-mentioned state.
According to the invention of claim 7, hardening is possible, having the laser beam ejection portion for common use in the respective machine tools. Then, it is not necessary to provide the hardening unit for exclusive use for each machine tool, and the method of hardening having high operation rate can be provided.
The invention of claim 8 is the method of hardening as set forth in claim 7, wherein an axis movement command for driving a control axis of said machine tool is output to said machine tool, a workpiece is moved in said machine tool by said axis movement command so as to execute hardening operation when a predetermined hardening operation is performed on said workpiece in said machine tool to which said laser beam ejecting portion is positioned.
According to the invention of claim 8, the axis movement command (the C-axis command, for instance) is output to the machine tool and the machine tool is controlled by remote operation from the hardening machine side so as to execute hardening operation. And, it is necessary to compose no specific control axis command on the machine tool side at the time of hardening, and the hardening operation can be smoothly executed.
The invention of claim 9 is the method of hardening as set forth in claim 7, wherein a workpiece in said machine tool is held without detaching from said machine tool so as to harden said workpiece in the state of being held when a predetermined hardening operation is performed on said workpiece in said machine tool.
According to the invention of claim 9, a workpiece in the machine tool is held without detaching from the machine tool at the time of hardening so as to execute the hardening operation on the workpiece in the above-mentioned state, thereby hardening operation is possible, making use of the machining coordinate system to be used at the time of machining on the workpiece or the machining shape of the workpiece recognized by the machine tool side as it is, and the hardening operation can be easily executed.
The invention of claim 10 is the method of hardening as set forth in claim 7, wherein a machining program to be used in machining on a workpiece with said machine tool and a hardening program for hardening said workpiece in said machine tool with said laser beam ejection portion are composed from the same data concerning a shape of the workpiece.
According to the invention of claim 10, the machining program and the hardening program are composed from the data concerning the shape of the same workpiece, thereby the double input of the data can be avoided at the time of composing both programs, and efficient operation is possible.
The invention of claim 11 is the method of hardening as set forth in claim 7, wherein a hardening program for hardening a workpiece in said machine tool with said laser beam ejection portion is composed on the basis of a machining program to be used in machining on said workpiece with said machine tool.
According to the invention of claim 11, the hardening program is composed on the basis of the machining program, thereby the double input of the data can be avoided at the time of composing both programs, and efficient operation is possible.
The invention of claim 12 is the method of hardening as set forth in claim 7, wherein a hardening operation with said laser beam ejection portion is performed on the basis of hardening command output from said machine tool.
According to the invention of claim 12, the hardening operation is executed on the basis of the hardening command from the machine tool, thereby a hardening command can be output when the machining before hardening operation finishes on the machine tool side and preparations for hardening on a workpiece are made, the laser beam ejection portion is prevented from inadvertently being driven during machining on a workpiece in the machine tool, and the control having high credibility is possible.